Life

Location – Shadal was born and raised in Trieste, Italy, and lived most of his adult life in Padua.

Education – Shadal was educated in an Italian Jewish community that was open to general education alongside a Jewish one. His elementary education included Bible, Mishnah, mathematics, geography, history, Italian, French, and German, and in his teens, he intensively studied Latin.2 Shadal's research and literary activities began in his early teens,3 and he completed studying the entire Talmud at age 17.

Occupation – At age 20, Shadal began working as a private tutor, and at 29, he was appointed professor at the rabbinical college in Padua, where he taught for the rest of his life.4 His extensive educational and literary work spanned the fields of philology, Semitics, poetry, philosophy, and biblical exegesis, and included correspondence with many of the leading Jewish scholars and rabbis of his day. Through his teaching and written works, Shadal defended traditional Judaism against modern critical movements, while also forging his own brand of Modern Orthodoxy. He is considered one of the founders of the Hebrew "Chokhmat Yisrael" literature and school of thought.5

Family – Shadal had a tragic personal life, his mother dying when he was just fourteen, and his father Hezekiah dying ten years later. His first wife, Bilhah Bat-Sheva Segre, died after a long illness, and he later married her sister, Leah. His children from his first wife included Isaia (who died at 14 months), a second son named Isaia (a lawyer), Filosseno (Philoxenus),6 a promising young scholar who died at the age of 24, and a daughter Milcah, who died at 18. With his second wife, he had four children: Miriam, Baruch Iyyov (died at age 7), Yosef, and Binyamin (a physician).

Contemporaries – Among those Shadal corresponded with were Isaac Samuel Reggio, Abraham Geiger, and Leopold Zunz. He also had close ties with R. Solomon Judah Löb Rapoport, and R. Nachman Krochmal, who together with Shadal founded the Hebrew "Chokhmat Yisrael" school of thought.

Time period – Shadal lived at a time when world Jewry was undergoing massive change and upheaval in a rapidly modernizing world. His lifetime saw the development and ascendancy of Reform Judaism in large swaths of the Jewish world and modern critical approaches to Judaism and Jewish sources.

Torah Commentary

Characteristics

Peshat and Derash – Shadal uses a number of different methods to reconcile cases in which the halakhah does not seem to be the simple peshat of the verse:

אסמכתא – Shadal says that in some cases Chazal do not think that they are expressing the real peshat of the verse rather they are just trying to find a hook in Torah for a halakhah which is not explicitly told in Torah – Shemot 22:2, 23:2.

Torah uses extreme formulation – Shadal on Shemot 21:17 says explicitly that in many cases the Torah writes laws in an extreme and threatening formulation (דרך גיזום ואיום) and really we are suppose to be lenient in cases when one implements them – Shemot 21:12, 21:16, 21:17, 21:29, 21:34-36, 22:6.

Chazal changed the simple meaning of the text in order to fit their time period:

Chazal changed the simple meaning in order to fit the halakhah in the time of בית שני – Shemot 12:6, Vayikra 6:13, 6:19, Bemidbar 6:18, Devarim 18:6.

Chazal made special enactments – Shadal on Vayikra 7:18 explains that in many cases where Chazal do not explain like the simple understanding of the verse it is because there was a need in their generation to make new enactments (תקנה שתיקנו לפי צורך הדורות) – Shemot 12:43, 21:3, Vayikra 7:18, Devarim 25:5, 26:12.

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1 This section incorporates information from S. Vargon, שמואל דוד לוצאטו – ביקורתיות מתונה בפירוש המקרא (Ramat Gan, 2013, hereafter: Vargon, Shadal), the Encyclopedia Judaica entry "Luzzato, Samuel David", and the "Luzzatto (Samuel David and Isaia) papers".2 He never, however, learned Greek, and thus the Septuagint was inaccessible to him in its original form.3 At age 11 he started writing an Italian work on Hebrew grammar, and at 12 he began translating a history of Aesop (and later on, Aesop's fables) from Italian to Hebrew. Shadal himself mentions as a personal milestone of intellectual maturity when, at age 13, he realized that the biblical punctuation and cantillation marks postdate the Talmud. At 15, he completed his first collection of poems, Kinnor Na'im. See Vargon, Shadal: 37-39.4 Despite having a respectable position, Shadal endured continual financial hardship because his salary was low and inconsistent, as the institution was not financially stable.5 This school was both modern and moderate, viewing Judaism as a living religion whose messages and meaning can be better understood and communicated to modern society through rigorous research and techniques. This contrasted with the approach of the German language "Chokhmat Yisrael" school, which tended to study Judaism as if it were an ancient and dead religion, and which was closely associated with assimilation and Reform. See Vargon, Shadal: 23-30.6 This name is a translation of the Hebrew אוהב גר, which was the name of a work Shadal authored (around the time of his son's birth) on the Targum of Onkelos, who was a convert to Judaism.7 Chief rabbi of Trieste.8 Who later became Shadal's father-in-law.9 Shadal was an incredibly prolific writer, and this is not a complete account of all his publications (in particular this page does not include his Italian publications). For a more complete account and chronology of Shadal's publications, see Vargon, Shadal: 39-51.10 HaMishtadel, Vienna, 1847.11 5 vols., with Italian translation, Padua, 1871–76. This commentary incorporated several phases of Shadal's exegetical activity. He first published commentaries in articles in בכורי העתים in 1826-28. These often focused on distinctions between apparent synonyms, which would become a characteristic feature of his exegesis. In 1846-47 he published a commentary called המשתדל, most of which would later be incorporated in the Padua 1871-76 commentary, which was published posthumously, apparently by his son Isaia and some students. The Padua commentary was much more extensive, and included material from Shadal's lecture notes, and from notes taken by his students. While a significant portion of the work seems to have been prepared for publication by Shadal himself, it was completed by his students.

A new edition by P. Schlesinger was published in 1965. This edition made significant changes in the text, removing Shadal's numerous citations of classical (mainly Roman) literature, linguistic observations about non-Semitic languages, geographical identifications, and the names of contemporary scholars that Shadal cites. Vargon (Shadal: 52-53) sees this as making the work more "kosher" for a 20th century Orthodox audience, and laments the fact that it obscures part of what makes Shadal unique: his breadth of knowledge of classical literature and the modern exegesis of his generation.

12 Together with a translation into Italian, 1845–97; new edition by P. Schlesinger and completed by A.M. Hovev, 1970.13 Published as Perushei Shadal, Lemberg, 1876.14 1876; reprinted 1969.15 Guide to the understanding of Targum Onḳelos, with notes and variants; accompanied by a short Syriac grammar and notes on the Targum of Psalms. Vienna, 1830.16 A work relating to the dating of the Zohar and of biblical punctuation. This was written 1825 (see Vargon, Shadal: 41), and published in Göritz, 1852. Shadal questioned the antiquity of the Zohar.17 Leghorn, 1856.18 A treatise on Jewish belief in light of humanistic ethics and psychology, Padua, 1864, and Przemysl, 1880.19 Published in the periodical Tzion, 1941 (Frankfurt). This article highlights the differences between Judaism and Athenian Greek philosophy. According to Vargon (Shadal: 46), this established the historical place of Shadal as an authentic Jewish intellectual opposed to Enlightenment ethics and more radical modern Jewish thinkers.20 Prague, 1839.21 A defense of use of human reason in undersanding the Torah. Published in שדל, מחקרי היהדות, Vol. 2: 49-109. See Vargon, Shadal: 40, n. 80, for a detailed history of the publication of this work and its various chapters.22 301 letters, published by Isaiah Luzzatto and prefaced by David Kaufmann. Przemysl, 1882.23 Przemysl, 1883. A collection of letters.24 A work of R. Yeshayahu Berlin, edited by Shadal, with notes of his own. Part i., Breslau, 1830; Part ii., Vienna, 1859.25 A poem of R. Avraham Bedersi, published for the first time with a preface and a commentary at the beginning of Bedersi's "Chotam Tokhnit." Amsterdam, 1865.26 Eighty-six religious poems of R. Yehuda Halevi corrected, vocalized, and edited, with a commentary and introduction. Lyck, 1864. In the introduction to this work, Shadal expresses a special appreciation for R. Yehudah Halevi as someone who was familiar with Greek and Islamic philosophies and cultures, but who managed to maintain a unique and authentic Jewish worldview.27 Extracts from the Diwan of R. Yehudah Halevi, edited with notes and an introduction. Prague, 1840.28 A commentary by Shadal's prized disciple, Yaakov Chai Pardo, who died at 21. The work was published by Shadal as part of Avnei Zikkaron (see below).29 A collection of poems. Part I was published in בכורי העתים 12, 1825 (Vienna); Part II was published in Padua, 1879, and a complete edition was published in Warsaw, 1913.30 Elegy on the death of R. Abraham Eliezer ha-Levi. Trieste, 1826.31 Seventy-six epitaphs from the cemetery of Toledo, followed by a commentary on Micah by Jacob Pardo, edited with notes. Prague, 1841.32 A collection of essays on the Hebrew language, exegetical and archeological notes, collectanea, and ancient poetry. Vol. i., Lemberg, 1847; Vol. ii., Przemysl, 1888; Vol. iii., Cracow, 1889.33 Padua, 1864.34 A treatise on Hebrew grammar. Vienna, 1865.35 A work consisting of two parts, the first containing a list of the Geonim and Rabbis, and the second a list of the payyṭanim and their piyyuṭim. Berlin, 1878-79.36 A collection of eighty-one unpublished piyyuṭim, amended Przemysl, 1881.